In 2025, BALR/PF-NI supported two 8-week summer studentships for students interested in taking part in research on pulmonary fibrosis over the summer. Since its completion, the students have had the opportunity to present their results at the annual conference of the British Association for Lung Research (BALR) held in Cardiff. See below for a detailed description of Angela’s project.
Angela’s Project
This summer, I stepped into a world I never imagined I’d be part of so early in my medical training – the world of research, posters, conference abstracts and long days in the lab! Thanks to the support of Pulmonary Fibrosis NI and the British Association for Lung Research (BALR), I had the chance to work on a project that combined both the science I love and the patient-centred questions that drew me to medicine in the first place.
My project focused on rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune condition affecting about 1 in 100 adults. One of its worst complications is interstitial lung disease (ILD), which drastically shortens life expectancy. The challenge is that our current blood tests often miss who is at risk—about 30% of patients are “seronegative,” meaning they lack typical antibodies in their blood that clinician use as markers of RA-ILD. Patients are often missed until their fibrosis progresses into the later stages, impacting their survival and quality of life.
This is where my work came in. Under the supervision of Dr Paul Minnis at Queen’s University Belfast and Antrim Area Hospital, I investigated a newer antibody called anti-carbamylated protein (anti-CarP) to see whether it could help shed light on lung disease in rheumatoid arthritis. I spent my summer carefully running ELISAs, comparing results across patients, and linking them with clinical data like smoking history and CT scans.
What I found was encouraging: The concentration of anti-CarP antibodies seemed to track with lung disease burden, smoking, and systemic inflammation — and even showed up in patients who tested negative for standard antibodies.
For me, the real excitement wasn’t just the results, but the feeling of contributing, in some small way, to a bigger picture: helping us get closer to earlier diagnosis and better outcomes for people living with RA-ILD.
One of the highlights of the studentship has been the chance to create and present my first scientific poster. Standing beside it, explaining my work to others, felt like a milestone moment — a glimpse of what it might be like to balance clinical work with academic research in the future.
I’m incredibly grateful to PF-NI and BALR, and my supervisors for their support, and for showing me how curiosity and perseverance can translate into meaningful science, and hopefully down the line, into improved outcomes for patients. This summer hasn’t just been about learning lab and data handling techniques (although I had a blast doing it and am a more skilled researcher because of it!) — it’s been about discovering that I want research to be part of my medical career. It’s a path I never expected to find so early, but one I’m determined to keep following!
